Remarkable Communicationhttp://www.remarkable-communication.com
Mindset, writing, podcasting, business, art ... and youThu, 15 Feb 2018 16:01:20 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.5TheRemarkableCommunicationBloghttps://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesThink ethical marketing is a contradiction in terms? Try a little remarkable communication.The Art and Craft of Writing, Part 1: Where does “writer’s voice” come from?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/q7dRWs3uYGo/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/organic-writers-voice/#respondThu, 15 Feb 2018 16:00:21 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=3101We had an interesting question come up in the Authority community, looking for resources to develop the “music” of writing: What’s the best way to make the words flow together? How can we create writing that has more artistic and creative power? Obviously, that’s a huge question, and one that won’t get answered in a […]

We had an interesting question come up in the Authority community, looking for resources to develop the “music” of writing:

What’s the best way to make the words flow together? How can we create writing that has more artistic and creative power?

Obviously, that’s a huge question, and one that won’t get answered in a single blog post. But thinking about it got me thinking about the distinction between “art” and “craft” in any kind of creative work.

Where does art come from?

I think art is just the attempt to take the complicated and confusing mess that’s in one person’s head and convey it to another person.

Thinking about writing always makes me think about drawing and painting these days — so I ask myself, How does a drawing of a car happen?

An artist sees a car in the street, observes it closely, then chooses a drawing implement to move across paper, making marks that communicate her individual experience of “this car.”

Alternately, the same artist looks up a YouTube video on “how to draw cars.”

We think that the first one is valid and the second one is cheating, but we need both. That’s art and craft. They work together.

Your voice is everything you’ve seen, done, and learned

It’s an organic result of the sum total of your life. And it will keep changing and growing as long as you do.

I can tell you some things I’ve learned about how to make words sound nice together. That’s craft — the equivalent of the YouTube video. And it’s an important part of the process. Not everything has to be won through hard experience.

But to try to master your art completely based on blog posts (or YouTube videos) won’t give you the most satisfying result.

Balancing art and craft can be frustrating, but it’s the good kind of frustrating, like defeating a hard level on a good video game, or reaching a relationship breakthrough with someone you really love.

It ain’t always easy, but it makes you feel amazing.

Practice, man, practice

“Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”“Practice, man, practice!”– a very old joke, indeed

A strong writing voice comes from both art (observation, communication, expression of life experiences) and craft (technique and “tricks of the trade”).

And both of them take practice. There’s no shortcut around the need for practice. If we want to get good, we need to put the time in.

Now, you could write sad clickbait for years and years and never get better at anything other than sad clickbait. The tricky part about creative practice is that we have to practice the things we aren’t good at yet.

Which can be deeply uncomfortable.

I could draw spheres and cubes all day long, and shade them nicely, maybe put some cool drop shadows in there. But that’s pretty boring. No one wants to look at it, and I don’t want to draw it.

Or I could draw things I’m not great at drawing yet, like dinosaurs, or window reflections, or hands. (Or cars. Cars are still hard for me to draw.)

There’s that painful gap — between the work we imagine in our heads, and the work that actually appears when we create.

Writers have it, painters have it, musicians have it — all creative people spend a lot of time in the gap.

Even worse, the more you learn, the more dissatisfied you get. So for awhile, it feels like you’re practicing more and your ability is actually getting worse.

No wonder there are so few artists and writers. No wonder people look at what we do and think it’s some kind of magic.

The magic part is sticking with it long enough to not suck quite so much.

In praise of cheerleading

Tara Gentile wrote an interesting piece recently about online business communities (like hers, which is excellent) being dismissed as mere “cheerleading.”

A reader question about storytelling

And the answer is an emphatic Yes! However — how deeply we go into it will be something we decide together.

We’ll definitely talk about how fiction writers construct stories — with the powerful drivers of conflict and character. We’ll talk about how word choice can paint complex pictures with the fewest possible words. We’ll also talk about how to tell compressed stories in a memorable way — because content does tend to reward Those Who Get to the Point.

But if you want to go into some deeper topics, like complex plot structure or how screenplays have affected our story brains, that will be up to us as a group. I’m here to serve you, so it’s really going to be about what we collectively find most useful.

The imperfect remarkable writing workshop

The more work I put into the syllabus for the course, the more I realize that I’m going to have to launch with an imperfect version, so that we can create something remarkable together.

I still have a fair number of Is to dot and Ts to cross, but when I do launch this workshop (in a few weeks, I hope), I can promise you one thing with absolute certainty:

It will not be remotely close to perfect.

That’s one reason I’m calling it a workshop — we’re going to make it amazing together. And the folks who join me for this first version will get the later, fancier (more expensive) one for free. Because that’s just how things should be, in my opinion.

If you’re a stickler for perfection, you should sit this one out. But if you love messy creativity, I think you’ll have a blast.

Next week I’m going to talk a little more about the “craft” part of the equation. And then I think I’ll schedule a live session to try out a new webinar tool — and find out what’s on your mind as you’re walking your own creative journey as a writer.

In the mean time, you can drop your information below if you want to know when the class gets going — and hit me up on twitter (or email) if you have any questions or suggestions for the workshop! It’s tons of fun hearing from you.

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/organic-writers-voice/feed/0http://www.remarkable-communication.com/organic-writers-voice/The Creative Learning Cycle that Produces Glorious Writershttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/Q_NUq6WPwtw/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/glorious-writers/#commentsThu, 08 Feb 2018 16:30:00 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=3039Ever heard this? Writing can’t be taught. We have to teach ourselves, word by painful word. And most people probably won’t ever get any good at it. Very macho, very tough love, and also completely untrue. Some writers love this point of view, which strikes me as, Pull the ladder up, boys, I’m aboard! Now […]

Writing can’t be taught. We have to teach ourselves, word by painful word. And most people probably won’t ever get any good at it.

Very macho, very tough love, and also completely untrue.

Some writers love this point of view, which strikes me as,

Pull the ladder up, boys, I’m aboard!

Now I’m not saying that all of us can be the next “insert the name of your absolute most admired writer here.”

Because we already have a Salman Rushdie and a Luvvie Ajayi and a Jenny Lawson. You’re never going to become them, and you shouldn’t.

It’s your lifetime’s creative task to become a fantastic version of yourself.

I’ve taken a lot of writing classes and been part of many, many writing groups. And here’s what I’ve observed:

Writing can absolutely be taught, but it needs to be taught in the right environment. (Freakishly giant cup of coffee is optional.)

Without that, most writers quit or stagnate before they have the chance to get really good.

From my observation, the elements of an effective writing program are not so much a series of steps as a cycle. And for me, safety is the most important place to start — maybe because it’s the element that’s so often missing.

#1: Safety

American culture in particular has a myth that we need to suffer humiliation or pain in order to grow. It’s the kick-in-the-ass school of individual development.

I see this advice everywhere, including from “experts” who are otherwise very smart:

You need brutal feedback or you’ll never get better.

But that’s not supported by the evidence. Study after study shows that self compassion is a more useful context for learning and growth than harshness is.

I’ve seen “brutal feedback” stop writers altogether far more often than I’ve ever seen it help them grow.

Sometimes, writers, thinking that this kind of feedback is what they need to get better, will ask a reviewer to “tear their work to shreds.”

Here’s the problem with that:

You can’t (effectively) work on everything at once.

If you’re writing fiction and your grammar is bad, your characters are thin, and your plots don’t make sense, you’ll progress much faster if you work on those one at a time. The key to improvement is to take any of those and break it down to something manageable that you can practice and improve.

Which brings me to:

#2: Manageable, focused exercises

Instead of trying to “be better at everything,” find controlled, doable exercises that will help you build one strength at a time.

Then work on them most days (every day is best if you can do it), for short, focused periods. You’ll make much more progress with a daily 15-minute exercise than you will trying to crunch through exercises for two hours every Sunday.

You’re looking to find or invent exercises that can take you safely out of your comfort zone without overwhelming you. For our newbie fiction writer above, these might be:

Install a grammar checker, and every time it flags something, look it up in a good grammar book so you can understand the rule you’re breaking

Practice writing half-page passages where you demonstrate something surprising about a character

Write short-short stories (no more than 2 pages long), each one trying out a different plot device

Each of these focuses on a particular area of improvement, and gives real-world practice that you don’t have to get too “precious” about. And that’s the third part of the cycle:

#3: Messy practice

You can’t get better at any creative work without practice.

But it’s really hard to make yourself practice when you feel like crap every time you create a piece.

Artists keep sketchbooks full of ugly drawings, funky color combinations, spills, smudges, and other creative fails. They do it so they can discover their own style — what they like, what they don’t like, and what they want to work on.

Writers need to do the same. We need to give ourselves spaces to practice making ugly sentences, funky paragraphs, stupid ideas, awkward phrases, and other creative fails.

A great writing voice doesn’t come from studying how to write “perfectly.”

Machines are learning to write perfectly. As creative writers, it’s our job to focus on improving what a machine can’t learn to do.

And finally, it’s really hard to make creative progress without a fourth piece to the cycle:

#4 Helpful feedback

I hesitate to even use the word critique, because there’s so much bad critique out there.

For some reason, otherwise perfectly nice people turn into sadists when asked to critique someone’s work.

Helpful feedback is different. It helps you to pinpoint areas of improvement. It also shines a light on what you’re doing well — because doing more of that is often where you start to see your own unique voice emerge.

It may not always feel wonderful, but it never feels overwhelmingly painful. It always leaves you with straightforward advice on what to work on next.

To give helpful feedback, your reviewer needs experience. They need to know how hard it is to get the words onto the page. They need to know what it’s like to wrestle with something they aren’t good at yet. And they need a healthy dose of humility — because one person’s crap is another person’s Da Vinci Code.

(Maybe you don’t much like the Da Vinci Code. That’s fine. But I’m pretty sure the author is glad he trusted his own vision for the book.)

Coming Soon: The creative writing workshop for content creators

Since I believe these are the essential elements of a good creative writing course, it only makes sense that I’m building my own workshop around them.

The goal is to help you make remarkable strides in the quality of your writing — and to give you tools and techniques that will let you continue to improve after the workshop is over.

Here are some of the foundational pieces:

The environment will be completely safe. No “brutal feedback” is allowed — not even of ourselves.

We’ll work through focused, interesting exercises to build different writing muscles. Each week we’ll work on exercises to improve our craft, sharpen our observational skills, and practice the different components that come together into a well-structured piece of content.

We’ll develop a “messy practice” tool that will become your new constant companion (at least as long as you’re with the class — but I hope you keep it going forever).

And you’ll have the opportunity to add on a detailed critique from me, where I’ll help you to see the areas you can work to improve, give you concrete suggestions on how to improve them … and show you what you’re already doing brilliantly and should do more of.

If you’re interested in joining us, drop your email in the form below and I’ll let you know when we’re ready for students! I’m really excited about this class, and I’ll be delighted to see you there.

By the way, I’m currently running two email systems (is this a good idea? No), so blog subscribers might get two versions of today’s post. I’m working on getting those consolidated so I’m not annoying you with extra messages.

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/glorious-writers/feed/1http://www.remarkable-communication.com/glorious-writers/Going from “Sometimes I Write” to “I Am a Writer” (New Workshop)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/9phmnSz1RUQ/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/becoming-a-writer/#commentsThu, 01 Feb 2018 15:00:00 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=2957When I was in college, a lot of smart people thought that our society was becoming “post-literate” — that the written word wasn’t going to matter much any more. I didn’t buy it, because even then (and, my friends, those were the internet dinosaur days) I could see how much the web relied on writing. […]

When I was in college, a lot of smart people thought that our society was becoming “post-literate” — that the written word wasn’t going to matter much any more.

I didn’t buy it, because even then (and, my friends, those were the internet dinosaur days) I could see how much the web relied on writing.

There’s so much advice out there for writers. And half of it seems to contradict the other half.

Grow your platform first

Don’t even think about a platform until you’re good

You have to be amazing

Good enough is good enough

Get a writing degree

Writing degrees will destroy your creativity

Find a writing group

Writing groups will destroy your creativity

Write every day

Only write when you have something to say

Write for your audience

Write only for yourself

Just write — that one shows up over and over. “Writers write.”

But write … what ?

What are the actual practices that turn us from “people who are interested in writing” into writers?

And what if we want to be … a really good writer? Is it ok to admit to that kind of creative ambition? Does it make us big-headed? Or delusional?

Our culture still mainly thinks of Art and Talent as gifts handed down by some kind of muse. In today’s way of looking at things, they’re granted by our genes — which amounts to the same thing.

They’re something we have to be given instead of something we create in ourselves.

This is a horrible, dangerous lie.

For a few weeks, I’m going to be writing about how we become writers.

Not just people who write — we’re all that. Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Twitter have made sure of that.

But a writer is something different.

Writers tell different kinds of jokes. Like verbal magpies, we obsessively collect strange turns of phrase. When writers spend a lot of time together, they develop peculiar private languages. (I suspect these are often fairly irritating for outsiders to listen in on. Sorry, normal world.)

A writer isn’t better or worse than any other kind of person. But if you want to be a writer, you won’t be able to rest until you become one.

A relationship with words

Being a writer is about having a very particular relationship with words.

And every writer has her own version of that. My way of being a writer won’t be identical to yours. But we can share a lot in how we experience it.

Sometimes writers strike me as a kind of alien species from a science fiction story. We have our own language and our own exotic customs. Our senses work differently. We perceive some things regular humans don’t — but we might have odd blind spots that normal people think are just weird.

Writers are attracted to words. Normal people see an unfamiliar word and usually gloss over it. They’ll figure it out from context and move forward. If they see the word often enough, they’ll learn it, in a general way.

Writers see an unfamiliar word like an artist sees an unfamiliar pigment or texture. What is that? What is it made of? What can it be used for? What are its qualities?

Tricks and truth

Being a writer is about discovering originality or music or poetry or greatness in the way words are put together. That’s the arty part. It’s good. It’s fun.

But there’s also the craft part — the tricks we learn to make words sound nicer together.

That’s good, and fun, also.

No matter how brilliant a painter’s vision might be, if he doesn’t learn about the craft of getting pigment down, his art literally won’t hold together. The colors won’t be right, or they’ll fade. The paint will flake off the canvas. The painting will physically disintegrate.

A musician doesn’t become a genius until she’s practiced enough that she can let others hear the wonderful things that are going on in her head.

These days, we talk about putting in our 10,000 hours. (By the way, that number is mythological. It made for some sexy bestselling books, but you can become amazing with far less time than that.)

Even though it’s a half-truth, the “10,000 hours” idea is decent shorthand for “put in the work on the craft, so that our ideas can be shaped and presented to our audience in a way they will enjoy.”

Writers write. That’s always been the advice.

But write what? If writing more words were the key to greatness, all of the best writers would be the ones who wrote the most books or published the most content. But that’s not always true. Not even close.

How to become a writer

Here’s my take on it. To become a writer, spend a significant chunk of time deliberately practicing your craft.

Ideally, try new techniques in public — on projects that other people will see. Experiment with language in your blog posts, on Medium or Pulse, in ebooks, or even Facebook posts.

Learn everything you can about technical stuff — the “tricks.” Work on making pieces that turn out more like what you had in mind when you started. Or that go off in new directions that please you. Or even new directions that make you sweat. (Now you’re really getting somewhere.)

You might take a writing workshop at your local university. Or pick up lots of writing books and work through the exercises you find. Those are both very good ways to improve your craft.

New: The Remarkable Writing Workshop

I spent a lot of time over the holidays musing on interesting projects, and I’ve decided that my next project here at Remarkable Communication is going to be a writing workshop.

So if you wanted to work on writing technique, I would love it if you joined us for that.

The workshop will be focused on the kind of writing I do the most of these days — what we call “content.”

(I’m not a fan of that term. “Content” has become so vague that it’s nearly meaningless. Still, content is the word we have for now.)

The great benefit of content is that other people read it. (Or watch, or listen, if you’re creating multimedia scripts.) They have reactions that you can observe. And you can see what’s working, and what still needs to get better.

Our workshop will be about how to learn some of my favorite “tricks” of craft, so your writing makes you happier. And probably makes your audience happier as well.

It will also be about developing your own voice — the “human fingerprint” that makes your content unmistakeable. If you write for a living, this is what gets you to stand out among the kajillions of cheap freelancers on Upwork.

The workshop will be open to all levels. I’m going to figure out some way (probably an optional add-on) that I can include some critique, because getting solid feedback has been the single most important thing that has improved my own work.

Beyond that, I’m not quite sure what shape this will take, or precisely what we’ll cover. I have a lot of notes. But I’d also love to know what would interest you.

I might teach it once, I might teach it twenty times. I really enjoy teaching, and I think I’ll particularly enjoy teaching this topic, but we’ll see how it evolves.

Any requests?

If there’s something you have always wanted to learn from a writing class, you could drop a comment here. It might well make its way into the program. Or if I don’t feel like it fits with this one, I might be able to point you in the direction of a great resource.

I’m experimenting with email providers right now (moving on to my third provider in six months, oh boy!), so drop your email in the form below, and I’ll let you know when I have more details.

This won’t be a fancy formal “launch,” but I will tell you what’s in the class, how it will benefit you, and how to get signed up. And I’ll probably throw some interesting special goodies your way as well.

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/becoming-a-writer/feed/8http://www.remarkable-communication.com/becoming-a-writer/Impostor syndrome and finding the confidence to develop your ideashttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/4vtGe3RCaPQ/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/impostor-syndrome/#commentsMon, 04 Dec 2017 22:44:12 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=2758Sometimes it’s hard to come up with an idea because we’ve been working too hard — we’ve drained the well and haven’t refilled it. Sometimes it’s hard because we haven’t been working enough — our creative brains have gotten out of the habit of sending us new ideas to play with. And sometimes it’s hard […]

Sometimes it’s hard because we haven’t been working enough — our creative brains have gotten out of the habit of sending us new ideas to play with.

And sometimes it’s hard because we lack the confidence. We struggle with impostor syndrome, or we worry that we don’t have what we need to do this idea justice.

We’re going to talk about that third one today.

Impostor syndrome isn’t a bad thing

We use the word “syndrome,” but impostor syndrome doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with us. In fact, the woman who did the original research on it thinks we should call it “impostor experience,” because nearly everyone wrestles with it sometimes.

Impostor syndrome can be summed up by the painful question,

“Am I good enough to do this important thing?”

It’s the feeling that whatever you learn, whatever you accomplish, you aren’t one of the really successful or knowledgeable people. Any minute now, the Expert Police are going to knock on the door and haul you off for fraud.

It’s intensely uncomfortable, but it isn’t always a bad thing. It can be very productive to keep that question in the back of your mind: “Is what I’m doing really contributing?”

When we look at those afflicted with impostor syndrome, it’s always surprising how damned good they are. They’re often the smartest, the hardest working, the voices that offer genuine value.

That’s not a coincidence.

The gift of self questioning keeps you honest. It keeps you from settling too quickly into “good enough.” It’s particularly useful in times like these, when everything around us is changing so quickly and conventional wisdom won’t cut it. We need to keep our eyes open and our humility in place.

Unless you let it stop you

The great and horrible problem with impostor syndrome is that it stops good people from making their most important contributions.

And it leaves those spaces open for people who don’t ask themselves if their work is making a real contribution, who go straight to “Good enough is good enough.”

This isn’t a defense of perfectionism. Perfectionism is often the obsession with trivial details as a way to avoid putting the really important stuff out there.

But this is no time for sloppiness or relying on the same tired advice. We need you to step into your best work. The advice and help that only you can give.

If you’re an expert

If you’re an expert, you’ll need to own it, and that can be tough. Tap your professional support network and see if they can give you a mirror to see yourself more clearly.

If you’ve been doing what you do for some years, if you make a serious study of your topic, if you have put the hours in and you care a lot, you’re probably an expert.

OK, you’re not “the world’s foremost expert.” You don’t have to be. I’ll accept that there are lots of people who know more than you do, if you’ll accept that you actually know your shit and can bring that to others in a way that benefits them.

Here are some ways to approach your work with more confidence so you can share your best gifts:

Assess the evidence

When you argue for a position in your topic, what’s your evidence? Is it credible? Is the source reliable? Is it current? Has it been tested? Are there any credible counter positions that you should at least look at?

Amateurs simply can’t assess the evidence the way you can. They don’t have the background to tell a good marketing story from real research. You can become the BS detector for your audience, and that’s priceless.

Draft your content with all the wimpy stuff, then take it out

As you’re working, whether it’s a blog post or a script for audio or video, go ahead and put in all of your apologies for not being “the world’s foremost expert.”

Then, when you’re doing, go back and take it all out before you record or publish.

I’ll allow you just one: Give yourself a single “that’s how I see it, you may see it differently” statement. Put it at the end.

Make your case forcefully first, then you can acknowledge that your topic is complex and others have different points of view.

Tell them what to do next

One thing an expert can help us with is to narrow the options down and tell us what we should do next.

Everyone is overwhelmed. Everyone is confused. If you can step forward, say what you have to say, then let people know — clearly and succinctly — what they should do next, you are performing a great service.

You are the action translator for your audience. You’ve gone through the information overload and waded through the complexity in order to find the thing that will make the difference — that next action to take. Everything you publish should tell people what to do next.

If you aren’t an expert

It might be that you genuinely are not an expert (yet). But you can still be a helpful voice.

The first thing to figure out is who you could meaningfully help. Beginners are always the biggest part of any market. If you know a little, because you’ve become an enthusiast in your topic, you can teach the beginning steps to someone who hasn’t taken them yet.

There is a beautiful “beginner’s mind” that is terribly hard to get to when you get further down the path. You can see the different approaches, the broad strokes, and the “Gee whiz” things that make your topic exciting.

Invite them to join you

You may have some next steps for your audience to try as well. Since you’ve just taken them, they’re all fresh in your mind, and you know what’s confusing and what’s hard to figure out at the beginning. That’s a valuable place for teaching.

Invite your audience to join you on the novice’s path. Let them learn along with you. Promise them that you will give your enthusiasm and that you will share what you learn. Acknowledge that you’re a student, too.

Voices from this viewpoint are intensely valuable, if they don’t claim an expertise that they haven’t earned yet.

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/impostor-syndrome/feed/9http://www.remarkable-communication.com/impostor-syndrome/How to troubleshoot a business idea that failshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/NfnUQSUrNSw/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/troubleshoot-your-flops/#commentsThu, 16 Nov 2017 16:30:00 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=2705On last week’s post about why it’s so hard to sell stuff right now, Linda left a terrific note in the comments: “I spent a lot of time figuring out reasonable prices for my services, and eventually offered my best skills for free, and there were no takers. I feel defeated, and this makes it […]

“I spent a lot of time figuring out reasonable prices for my services, and eventually offered my best skills for free, and there were no takers. I feel defeated, and this makes it hard to write any more. Perhaps you know others who feel this way.”

This is the part that business and marketing blogs usually spend very little time on. Probably because it’s a bummer, and not “inspiring.”

As it happens, this morning in my inbox I got an email from Stephen Guise (I like his newsletter a lot), with this excellent observation:

If life is always imperfect, that means it’s not wrong to have bad days. It’s not unusual to have significant problems spring up out of nowhere. It’s not unexpected for life to punch you in the mouth, and for you to feel it. This is not pessimism, it is the path to freedom, the key to thrive and be happy in any situation. – Stephen Guise

If you want to do weird things that normal people don’t do, like start businesses or take control of your life, you might as well make peace with this now:

Some days are going to feel like crap.

(Of course, normal people have days that feel like crap. The difference is, normal people don’t make peace with it.)

Now, as someone who wants to encourage you to do all that stuff you’re not sure you can do, I might choose to shake my pom-poms and tell you to Never Give Up! And that You Got This!

But you and I both know that isn’t terribly helpful.

If you’re moving in a direction that makes sense, you have good evidence that it will work, and you’re not shutting your eyes to important information, then it’s smart not to give up. (Although you might want to stay open to changing your direction on how you’ll get there.)

But you have to check those things first. Despite what a lot of business advice would try to tell you, moving forcefully in the wrong direction will not get you to a good place.

And it might be true that You’ve Got This. Or you might need some additional resources. There might be a piece that you’re missing, that you’ll need to figure out a way to fill in. Until you do, all the happy self-talk in the world won’t make your project work.

I have much experience in Stuck

Not only do I know people who feel the way Linda has described, I’ve faced it myself.

When I first started my business (way back around 2008) I ran through a whole bunch of business models before I found one that got traction. The business advice bros call it failing fast. That makes it sound fun or cool, but it sucks, and it makes it really hard to keep going emotionally.

I had two advantages. One, I couldn’t give up, since my “day job” was going through round after round of layoffs. I knew I had to jump or I’d get pushed, so I jumped.

Two, I had met some wonderful people who helped me to keep going. I had a kind coach (who was willing to push me the right amount of hard), smart teachers, and friends who were wrestling with the same stuff.

Since those days, I’ve launched some wildly successful projects. I’ve also launched a few frustrating bombs. I’ve tried hard to learn from both.

Here are some things I’ve learned from projects that just didn’t work at all.

Assuming you’ve been taking consistent action (if not, that’s the thing to fix), projects typically bomb for one of three reasons:

1. The audience just doesn’t want what you’re offering

They might need it, they might benefit from it, it might make their lives better. But they don’t want it. So everything is an uphill battle. They don’t look at your content, they don’t sign up for your email list, they don’t buy when you ask them to.

To fix it: Ask your audience what they’re actually struggling with. What’s been really hard for them? What’s been frustrating, or even painful?

Look for patterns in the answers that you get. Pay special attention to the folks who leave detailed responses. Then shape your content and your product or service toward solving those issues.

There are a million business ideas that make a ton of sense. They should work. But they don’t, because for whatever reason, the audience just doesn’t want it. Figure out what your people do want, and offer them that instead.

2. You don’t have enough people in your audience

Sometimes, the problem isn’t the offer, it’s that you’re not getting it in front of enough people.

If you had 1000 people on the list, you might get a reasonable number of buyers, but you have 100 people. That’s usually not enough to run a meaningful experiment.

(By the way, every new business or project, even if you have lots of experience, is an experiment.)

How to fix it: Traffic always matters, but it matters more when you’re starting out.

One of your first challenges is to find out where the people are hanging out who might like you. It could be social media, it could be a “content amplifier” like Medium or LinkedIn. (Let me know if you want to hear more about those.)

You might find more of the People Who Dig You by guest posting. You might fire up a Facebook group. You might hang out in communities. (And give value, please — don’t be that guy who just loiters in communities to try to find people to sell to.)

Or you might (judiciously) pay for a small amount of traffic to get the ball rolling. If you pick this one, please please please go slowly. Spend little tiny amounts of money until you have something that works. (“Works” means “they buy something that at least covers your ad expenses.”)

We digital business folks often neglect the value of one-on-one outreach at this point. If there’s a version of your product or service you could create for just one person, try to sell that first. This is often some kind of coaching or consulting.

Try selling to 10 or 20 individuals before you put together a product intended for a group. You’ll learn amazing things that you’ll be able to use for a long time.

3. The message is off

Sometimes the offer is sound and you have the right audience (including enough people), but you explained it in a way that doesn’t resonate.

This is the least common of the three, but it absolutely happens. You might have chosen a metaphor or analogy that didn’t turn your audience on. Or your sales copy might be overly complicated or confusing.

And always double-check to make sure your buying process works. Sometimes we get no sales because the Buy button is broken.

How to fix it:

This is where marketing and copywriting advice start to come in handy. Could your audience be confused? Have you spelled out the benefits? Did you let “cleverness” get in the way of clarity, particularly with your headline? Do you have a clear, direct call to action?

If you can, try to talk to someone who saw the offer but didn’t say Yes. They may be able to tell you where you went off track. Be sure you check your defensiveness at the door. It’s not the time to explain to them why they should have wanted it. It’s the time to listen to why they didn’t.

How about you?

Any hard-won lessons from the trenches? Any patterns you’ve observed that made the difference between the ones that worked and the other ones?

Let us know in the comments!

And if you dig what you read here, I hope you’ll consider subscribing. You’ll get the weekly(ish) post as well as a short series I did on how to find more freedom and success — in the real world, not the one described in business self-help books. Just drop your info below and we’ll make it happen …

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/troubleshoot-your-flops/feed/2http://www.remarkable-communication.com/troubleshoot-your-flops/Why it’s so hard to sell stuff right now — and 3 ideas on what to do about ithttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/OPjXNaWePO0/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/stress-hurts-sales/#commentsThu, 09 Nov 2017 16:00:00 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=2634You may have noticed that we’re living in stressful times. Nearly 60% of U.S. citizens say that this is the “lowest point in our nation’s history that they can remember.” That doesn’t just affect one country, and it’s showing up across the political spectrum. Everywhere we look, there’s a lot of uncertainty about important things, […]

That doesn’t just affect one country, and it’s showing up across the political spectrum. Everywhere we look, there’s a lot of uncertainty about important things, which creates real stress.

And when the world is stressful, it can become really hard to sell almost anything. (Weighted blankets and cookies are doing well. Other stuff is tricky.)

Not because your stuff isn’t valuable. Your product or service might be the exact thing that your audience needs to climb out of that dark spot.

But stress tends to freeze us in place. We don’t want to go forward, sideways, or back. Because any of those might Make More Bad Things Happen.

The confused mind does not buy. -Ancient marketing axiom

But inaction (by definition) isn’t getting us anywhere.

Whether your audience has big stresses or small ones, this is a great time to help them manage that stress, move forward, and get their lives back.

The times of greatest pain are also the times of greatest opportunity to help.

Here are some strategies I’ve found useful:

#1: Help them focus

You’re going to see an overhaul in 2018 on how Copyblogger approaches education — and I’m thinking of jumping into the fray as well here at Remarkable Communication.

For about 8 years now, Copyblogger has created environments of education and support. We’ve offered big communities (Third Tribe, which became Authority, as well as the Digital Commerce Academy) with a variety of resources on an array of relevant topics. Our students have been invited to self-direct to the advice they need most in that moment.

This coming year, we’re going to build a lot more tangible stepping stones.

Environments are great places to learn and grow when you’re in relative safety. But when things get freaky, we need more sign posts.

Moments of chaos and confusion are excellent times to send out a message:

Here’s the next step. Here’s how to take it. Here’s why it’s safe.

Too many details just add to the overwhelm. Keep the benefits clear and the conversation focused.

We’ll still be providing a supportive, encouraging environment, of course. But the focus is going to be on well-defined steps with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

#3: Help them connect

Everyone likes this proverb because it feels good — but I’m going to provide an alternate version.

If you want to go fast, get some damned help. If you want to go far, find a community … and also get some damned help.-Sonia Simone

The “successful lone wolf” has been a myth for a long time. Humans are more intertwined and interdependent than ever, thanks to the global economy and our friend the Internet.

As someone who builds things, you need to make connection an integral part of your life. Get into as many fruitful conversations as you can. Face-to-face when you can, but most of them will probably be online.

(What are fruitful conversations? The kind where you’re not raging in circles with a stranger on Twitter about something neither of you has the least control over.)

You’ll want to help your audience connect as well. You can do that by building your own opportunities for community, or you can do it by recommending communities that you find nourishing and valuable.

A community that fits that description for me at the moment, by the way, is Tara Gentile’s CoCommercial. It’s a great group of business owners who connect to encourage each other, share advice and best practices, and just generally have each other’s backs.

(That’s not an affiliate link. At least not today. )

And a question for you …

I was thinking about throwing together a small workshop for writers, helping to share some of what I’ve learned in nearly 30 years writing for the web.

Would you be interested? What would you want me to cover? What could I teach that would make something meaningful happen for you?

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/stress-hurts-sales/feed/10http://www.remarkable-communication.com/stress-hurts-sales/Do You Have to be a Soulless Shitweasel to be a Good Salesperson?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/ZFO0DsXAluE/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/no-shitweasels/#commentsThu, 19 Oct 2017 19:23:43 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=2562OK, spoiler alert, No. 🙂 But we do see it all around. High-pressure, creepy folks who insinuate their way into our attention, and then tell lies and half-truths to sell their stuff. It’s particularly prevalent in what I do for a living, which is teaching people about marketing and business. But by no means is […]

I see scammy, predatory marketing in any field you can think of, including:

Health (so much BS in this one)

Money

Personal development

Relationships

Dog training

In other words, if it’s a topic that people will spend money on, there’s a scumbag somewhere who’s willing to lie to get some of that money.

Which leads to two depressing questions.

How can we avoid getting burned by liars and crooks?

Do we have to turn into liars and crooks ourselves in order to market our businesses?

Rather than stay depressed, let’s address this mess head-on.

How to stay free of predatory salespeople

I was going to write about something totally different today, but this one kept coming up in my Facebook Feed.

There is much that can be said on this topic, but I’ll cover some highlights from my experience. Becca Tracey had a great rant on this, originally published a few years ago, that I thought was very smart.

When you don’t see your own power, you’re vulnerable to some clown who is less smart than you are, less capable than you are, and has no qualms about exploiting your insecurity to line his pockets.

Good coaches or consultants in any field respect your agency and autonomy. They call on you to develop your bravest, wisest self, instead of promising to be your pseudo-parent and solve all of your problems.

Why don’t sleazy coaches do this? Because then you’ll figure out that the most important “success secret” you have is you.

Good coaches ask you a lot of clarifying questions, point you in fruitful directions, hold you accountable to what you already know you need to do, and hold your hand when it’s scary.

Horrible coaches give you a “success-getting system” (for any topic), then put the blame on you when their “system” doesn’t work.

How to sell without becoming a predatory salesperson

Most predators, in my experience, are groomed by other predators. They learn “not to take no for an answer” (um, “no” is an answer), or how to undermine their victims’ confidence to leave them more vulnerable.

It’s a specific skill set. Some people are very good at it. I recommend you not pursue that.

But there’s a corollary to that. I see advice like,

The best way to sell is never to sell anything, just make something really good and people will stumble across it.

And in my experience, this doesn’t work.

You have to learn to stand up and say, What I have to offer is valuable.

You have to learn basic copywriting stuff like benefits vs. features, calls to action, and risk reversal.

You have to understand the psychology of why people buy, and create messages that respect that psychology.

There truly is a middle road.

Here’s the brutal truth:

The middle, ethical road doesn’t work as well as being a lying shitweasel, if you’re good at being a lying shitweasel.

“Sales” isn’t a dirty word, and I’m not willing to let the creeps and scumbags own the game.

If your product or service helps people, you deserve to sell it and to find success. No shitweaselry required.

Resources

I’ve written a lot about this topic, because getting over my own hangups about selling was difficult and necessary. Here are a couple that might help you out — and if you want me to dig more into this topic, just drop a comment below with your thoughts!

I have a few spots open to work one-on-one

Update: These coaching spots are filled, but stay tuned as I should be opening up some more in a month or two.

In case you didn’t see my email earlier this week, I have two spots available to work with me one-on-one as your coach.

And this is me telling you about that, clearly, ethically, and without pretending I’m an all-powerful guru who will fix all of your problems.

If you’re looking for a business, strategy, or writing coach, I might be the one you’re looking for. I’ve seen plenty of highs and plenty of lows, and I have about a decade of experience working with business owners and marketers who need help with their content and marketing strategy.

Here’s the page with details — I’m going to be reviewing applications over the weekend, and will get in touch with my two new clients on Monday, October 23.

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/no-shitweasels/feed/6http://www.remarkable-communication.com/no-shitweasels/Sanity Savers when the World is on Firehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/CFSsc-cZzek/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/world-on-fire/#respondThu, 12 Oct 2017 18:00:00 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=2507I have friends in Northern California who have just been evacuated from their house for the second time this week. I have a friend in Puerto Rico who is hanging on, covering up his increasingly dire living situation with black humor and grim cheer. I have a friend who’s a dreamer because her dad is […]

I have friends in Northern California who have just been evacuated from their house for the second time this week.

I have a friend in Puerto Rico who is hanging on, covering up his increasingly dire living situation with black humor and grim cheer.

I have a friend who’s a dreamer because her dad is a ridiculous flake. She’s smart, educated, productive, positive. She’s unambiguously American. She’s worried she may have to start a new life in a country that’s never been her home. And I’m worried with her.

All times feel tumultuous. But this isn’t the usual “I don’t know how I’m going get it all done.”

We’ve all heard of that supposed traditional curse, “May you live in interesting times.” And I get it now. Going back to boring would be great, please.

You can respond by pulling the metaphorical covers over your head, and sometimes, we all need to do exactly that. Ask me where to find the cute pug videos, I’ll send ’em on over to you.

But eventually we have to get back to adulting, so we can take care of ourselves, our families, and our communities. Here are some things that are helping me.

Give

This one has been a mainstay of mine for a long time, not because I am so virtuous, but because it reliably helps me feel a lot better.

If you’re anxious about friends (or just fellow human beings), give some money to a worthy cause. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money. $20 will help you see that you’re not helpless. And, not coincidentally, it will be added up with lots of other folks’ donations and it will do some good.

If you can give time, that’s wonderful. If you can give a few moments of attention to call your elected officials, that’s superb. If it’s just going to be $15 or $20 today, that’s completely fine.

The act of giving changes your focus. Instead of feeling paralyzed, you realize that you do have agency. That you can do something.

Sharpen your skills

The ideal time to get massively better at what you do was 10 years ago. Obviously.

If your TARDIS is broken at the moment, you might as well roll your sleeves up and start now.

If you’re a writer, get better. If you’re a designer, get better. If you’re an accountant, get better. If you’re a marketer, get better.

While I do think it’s good to work on your weaknesses, in times of crisis I think you get more bang out of focusing on improving your strengths. It’s easier to do when you’re already emotionally exhausted, and the payoff is faster and greater.

Manage your overwhelm

It’s funny (as in, horrible) how we can lie there at 4:00 AM like paralyzed rabbits stressing over things we can’t change.

What I did this morning when I found myself doing exactly that: Got up and banged out a webinar script. By 6 AM I had added a couple of free hours to my day, crossed an important to-do off the list, and kept myself moving forward.

Small daily habits work really well for getting a handle on feelings of overwhelm or helplessness. So do tools that let you deal with tasks you might find overwhelming.

I’m a new convert to the budgeting software YNAB, and it’s brilliant. Everything feels tracked, managed, and under control. Cross one more source of stress off the list.

Finally, you must manage your social media intake. My 4:00 AM stress bomb was probably triggered by staying up too late on Twitter last night getting pulled into the latest Genuinely Awful Thing.

Social media arguments do very little. Focus on more meaningful tasks, even if they’re of the one-minute variety. A single call to a senator or congressperson will do more than 24 hours of nonstop social media bickering.

And yeah, I use an app for that as well. It can feel impossible to tear yourself away from Facebook or Twitter in the middle of a long argument, so I use the Freedom app to just kick me off. Problem managed.

Self care

Cultivate a small, frivolous creative habit. Maybe you want to make paper dolls. Or design fancy bullet journal pages. Or balloon animals. Maybe you just want to draw shapes with Elmer’s glue and cover them with glitter.

Anything like that would be great.

Make moments throughout your day to get up and move around. Go outside. Look at the sky, and some plants if you have any handy. (The post photo today is of the beautiful ash tree in front of my house.)

Hug something. Ideally something alive. Oxytocin (the “love hormone”) helps your body handle stress in a healthy way. Find some puppies, friends, kittens, loved ones. Hug another being every time you get the chance. (Get their permission first.) We all need the therapy.

Find company

Even if you’re an introvert. Even if you feel socially exhausted. We have to group together.

If you’re spinning your wheels, ask for help. If you can’t figure out the thorny problem, and digging into the research makes you feel like bursting into tears, ask a friend if you can do it together.

Prioritize connection. Even if you don’t feel like it — and you may be stressed enough that you don’t. But if you collect some people who understand you, and you can agree to have each other’s backs, you’ll find you can do all kinds of things you never could before.

Possibly I can help …

I’ve put together a mini-course (delivered by email) to help with some of the scary stuff that keeps us stuck and afraid. Things like not feeling safe, not feeling like we’re the kind of people who can be successful, and coping with our good friend overwhelm.

If you haven’t signed up yet, you can get it by entering your details below. I’m also going to be letting those folks know about a new (tiny) coaching program I’m launching, as well as some discount codes for things you might want.

It won’t be a pitch fest, and I do think the ideas and suggestions may be helpful to you. Hope to see you there.

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/world-on-fire/feed/0http://www.remarkable-communication.com/world-on-fire/5 Business and Marketing Problems that Won’t Fix Themselveshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/2bIQ6As6X-M/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/fixable-problems/#commentsThu, 05 Oct 2017 06:00:00 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=2445This is the fourth installment in the Positive Business series on how to use ideas from positive reinforcement (R+) in your business and your creative projects. I remember my friend C’s dinner party one summer evening. Brilliant people, fabulous house, great conversation … and while we were chatting in the living room, five dogs stood […]

This is the fourth installment in the Positive Business series on how to use ideas from positive reinforcement (R+) in your business and your creative projects.

I remember my friend C’s dinner party one summer evening. Brilliant people, fabulous house, great conversation … and while we were chatting in the living room, five dogs stood on the dining room table gobbling up the planned meal for the guests.

Not small dogs, either.

C was a passionate dog owner … she just wasn’t a passionate dog trainer. Her pooches barked, nibbled, chewed, and jumped their way over everyone and everything. She loved them, but no one else did.

Just like naughty puppies, some problems do not fix themselves. In fact, they’ll tend to get worse. Here are five of my favorite “fixable problems.” Put them off at your peril!

1. Procrastination

Ugh, everyone’s least favorite word.

Nearly all of us do it. We put off doing the important stuff, even while we find all the time in the world to get into fights on Facebook about the best kind of puppy food and whether or not candy corn is edible.

(Answers: Talk about it with your vet, No.)

I write a lot about procrastination and productivity over on Copyblogger, and around here as well. I work on it every day. Some days it gets the better of me … and some days I kick its sorry ass.

You’re not going to “grow out of it.” In fact, it will only get worse, because procrastination is a “self rewarding” behavior.

Just like a naughty puppy who eats a whole plate of hot dogs off the table, the immediate rewards for procrastination tend to make us keep doing it.

Even though the puppy is going to feel pretty bad in a couple of hours — and so will you, after you realize you just spent four hours on Twitter arguing politics with a bot in Macedonia — in the immediate moment, they offer a cheap thrill.

Don’t try to tough it out with willpower. Use apps and other tools (I like the Freedom app) to enforce boundaries and protect you from distractions.

Schedule your time. A much as you can, do the same things at the same time. Every day at 9:00 AM I do some writing. Every day at 3:00 PM I spend a few minutes on my finances. (This is new, after exhausting myself with stress for months over silly things like doing my taxes.) Every day at 4:00 PM I take a walk and lift weights or do some pushups. Every Friday at 10:00 (my time) I record a live session for our Authority community.

Get accountability. I don’t know if I would ever have launched my first marketing course (lo these many years ago) if I hadn’t told my business coach I’d have it done by the end of the year. I think I launched it the first week of December. A coach, a peer group, or a mastermind can make a massive difference in how you approach your important tasks.

You’ll discover what works for you. Don’t kick yourself if you have to keep re-committing to the solutions that work for you again and again and again. That’s kind of how it works.

(By the way, I’m also a massive fan of Jessica Abel’s Growing Gills, which speaks directly to the challenges of productivity for creative work.)

2. Obscurity

You’d have an amazing business, project, or side hustle … if only anyone knew about it.

Your wonderful content is not going to find an audience simply by existing. You have to get the word out.

Part of your “time budget” for content creation should be spent on promoting it. Sharing it on social media, putting in the time to learn the basics of SEO, maybe even running a few low-cost ads to get more people to see your work.

I wrote a whole ebook on this for Copyblogger — you can snag it at the link below. (You’ll need to sign up for the Copyblogger content library, if you haven’ already, and that’s free).

3. Content strategy

When you start a project, often you just write for awhile, figuring out where you want to go. And that’s appropriate and good.

But as soon as you have a goal … you need a strategy that will take you there.

This doesn’t need to be 9th-level wizard chess. Just think through things like:

How are new people going to find me?

Once people do find me, how can I stay in touch with them? (If they’re into it …)

What do they need to know in order to Do The Thing? (make a purchase, do the activism, or whatever your project is about)

Is there anything else I could help my audience with?

A good content strategy should be simple enough that you’ll actually implement it, and include all the steps that a person would need to go from being a complete stranger to being a delighted and loyal customer.

4. Your network

It’s nice to think that potential partners and other experts in your topic are going to burst down the doors as soon as they see that you’ve created some good content.

Sometimes this happens. Mostly this does not happen.

Even introverts need to cultivate their networks — and even introverts can do it well.

This isn’t about rehearsing your elevator pitch (mostly people hate them) or damply pressing your business card into the hands of anyone with skin.

It’s much more about listening, about cultivating curiosity for the people you meet, and about participating in communities around your topic.

Face-to-face connections have great power, but you can cultivate wonderful relationships online, too.

5. Your skill set

OK, to some extent, if you write a lot, you’re going to get better.

But you need to work on the right things. Spending 10,000 hours playing Chopsticks will not make you a concert pianist.

If you think your writing voice is conversational, but it’s actually stiff and stilted, continuing to write in that voice won’t make it better.

If your writing is sprinkled with misspellings or usage problems, you won’t be able to reach a more sophisticated audience until you learn to quit doing that.

If you think your 8000-word rambling missives are nuanced and compelling, but your audience can’t bring themselves to read past word 10, you’ll never be able to get your message out.

Sometimes you can see your own flaws, but more often, you need a coach or a group to help you past your blind spots.

Choose carefully. Criticism that craps all over you, that fails to understand your context and goals, or that makes your approach “wrong” when it’s just different, will hold you back.

A few resources that can help

If you’re struggling with one or all of these, Copyblogger was my go-to resource for these issues before I ever partnered with Brian Clark to form the company we had today. I’m still motivated to share tutorials and tips for our audience there, because they were so helpful to me when I was starting out.

If you want something more directed, I’m planning on opening a very small number of coaching spots, to work on the kind of issues I talk about in this post, as well as writing, strategy, mindset, and business challenges.

The folks on my email list will have the first opportunity to claim spots, so if you think you might want in, drop your name and email below and I’ll let you know what I have available.

While you’re waiting, I’ll also send you a mini “Freedom” course I’m creating about how to cultivate a successful mindset, even in an environment of stress and obstacles. And you’ll also get the weekly blog post.

]]>http://www.remarkable-communication.com/fixable-problems/feed/2http://www.remarkable-communication.com/fixable-problems/7 Ways to Make Your Content More Rewardinghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRemarkableCommunicationBlog/~3/gJRw21xCvjA/
http://www.remarkable-communication.com/rewarding-content/#commentsThu, 28 Sep 2017 15:00:00 +0000http://www.remarkable-communication.com/?p=2406This is the third installment in the Positive Business series on how to use ideas from positive reinforcement (R+) in your business and your creative projects. This whole nutty idea of thinking about positive reinforcement (and puppy training) in your business originally came in a post I wrote about treating your audience like dogs. It’s […]

This is the third installment in the Positive Business series on how to use ideas from positive reinforcement (R+) in your business and your creative projects.

This whole nutty idea of thinking about positive reinforcement (and puppy training) in your business originally came in a post I wrote about treating your audience like dogs.

It’s about creating a rewarding experience so that your audience does more of the stuff you want them to.

If you send good things to your audience via email, your audience will tend to want to open more of your messages. If your product or service offers a great experience, customers will tend to want to buy again.

It’s not something one of you “does to” the other. It’s a cycle of mutual benefit. Both sides find the experience rewarding, so they come closer together.

Content is one of the best ways I know to create a customer experience that’s innately rewarding. But only if it’s created with care.

Today I’m going to talk about a few specific ways you can improve that rewarding aspect of your content.

1. Sharpen your skills

The problem: Most content sucks. It’s boring, it’s thrown together, and it doesn’t offer enough value to the audience.

The solution: Sharpen your skills.

You don’t have to be the world’s foremost authority at what you do. But you do want to put the time in to help people make meaningful change.

You don’t have to write at The New Yorker level to create solid content. But you do want to put the time in to communicate clearly and in an interesting way.

Give your business enough G.A.S. to get the job done. You’d be amazed at how far it can take you.

And a business that’s taken the time to create something of real value? Immensely rewarding to connect with.

2. Teach without overwhelming

The problem: Many folks (particularly those new to teaching) feel the need to paint every inch of the big picture before they can settle down and answer the question.

This is a classic curse of knowledge issue. If you really understand your topic, you see everything that has come together to create the answer you’re giving.

But your audience doesn’t care. And when all they want to do is launch a simple website, you need to restrain yourself from the fourteen-page memo on the details of Al Gore’s role in creating the internet.

This one is extremely hard for me. I was in a mastermind that helped me to see I was overwhelming my audience by regurgitating way more information than they wanted or needed — and ever since, my watchword has been, “quit puking on your customers.”

The solution: Teach without overwhelm.

In other words, quit puking on your customers.

Instead of putting together giant, indigestible posts, podcasts, or videos, break your ideas up into more manageable bites.

You’ll find that you can keep dividing what you know into smaller and smaller bites, making them easier and easier to digest.

Focus on solving specific problems — and provide the background with hyperlinks for those folks who do want to dig deeper.

Not everything can be reduced to a short, punchy blog post or a two-minute video — but be sure there are some of those in your mix.

Quick answers to questions make for great content ideas — and there are always lots of them waiting to be answered. Keep your eyes and ears open for them.

Irony note: As I wrap this post up, I realize it might have been more effective written as seven smaller posts. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

3. Simplify, don’t dumb down

So, that digestible, manageable introductory content is great … but sometimes we cross the line from introductory and go right to kindergarten. Content that fluffs up the same weak answers as a hundred other sites will never do anything for you.

The solution: Simplify, don’t dumb down.

What you’ll find if you Google around in your topic (an activity I strongly recommend) is that there’s a lot of “beginner” content that doesn’t really teach anything worthwhile.

How do you know it’s fluff? It doesn’t move them meaningfully toward what they want.

It leaves out important steps. It glosses over the hard part. Instead of clarifying and explaining, it’s dumbing the topic so far down that the solution won’t work.

So when you’re creating the “bite-sized” content I mentioned above, make sure it’s easy to see how it fits into that more complete solution. (That often means you create lots and lots of bites, then organize them so it’s easy to go from one to the next.)

Write your tutorial. Listen to audience feedback. Notice where they’re getting lost, and write a new version, or edit the old one for clarity.

Record your explainer. Pay attention to what’s still getting people confused. Record a new version that’s clearer.

Look for the places they get stuck.

When you see that the same question comes up in your Facebook group or a private forum again and again, it’s a sure sign that you need to create a clearer, simpler resource — and get it where people will see it.

It’s hard to explain your topic simply but meaningfully.

But when you keep working on it, you create content that’s deeply rewarding, because it helps the audience learn about things they care about (which feels great) and minimizes frustration (which feels crummy).

4. Eat your own dog food

The problem: User experience is complicated. We create all of these moving pieces for our audiences, and sometimes those pieces get jammed up.

The solution: Eat your own dog food.

Subscribe to your own content. Read the emails you send out. Do they look ok? Do the links work? Do you have some of those weird personalization codes in where they’re not supposed to be?

If people can place an order with you (online or offline), go through that process regularly. Schedule it, or “some time” will become “never.”

Look at your content on different devices.

When your site is new (like this relaunch), you’ll find lots of weird little things that need to be addressed.

You’ll probably never get to a point where it’s all perfect. As we grow and evolve, we introduce the possibility for errors … or just weird choices.

Stay connected to the experience of your work, so you can keep making it better.

5. Make the right choice easy

The problem: Everything is overwhelming. Audiences are more and more freaked out, about all kinds of issues. Minor confusion can become a major stumbling block.

The solution: Make the right choice easy.

When someone boogies on over to check out your content, how many different choices are they faced with? Is it easy to know what to do next? Is that choice beneficial to your audience? Is it beneficial to you?

Make it easy to make the “right” choice.

That means you use clear calls to action. Keep your site design uncluttered. Don’t be afraid repeat yourself.

If you have a million ideas you want to try (welcome to my world), think about how to string them like beads and approach them one at a time.

Yesterday on one of our Authority coaching sessions, I suggested that a student plan out his business evolution in launches. (I happen to like Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula a lot, and you can pick up his book with the key details very cheaply.)

One advantage to a launch model? It pushes you to think about one project at a time, and make the case for it with your audience, then see it through before you bounce to the next thing.

Clarity is rewarding. The feeling that I know what to do next when I hit your site — and that it will be a wise choice that brings me closer to my own goals — is rewarding.

6. Speak their language

The problem: There’s a ton of content being published on the web. It’s easy to get lost in the noise.

The solution: Speak their language.

Every experienced copywriter knows how valuable it can be to know the language of your prospect.

Do your people say soda or pop?

Do they identify as nasty women and SOBs? Is it good or bad to be a snowflake? Or deplorable?

Every topic has its little oddities of language. And within the topic, different sub-niches and ecosystems have their own twists on things.

Social media is wonderful for being able to tune into these. Find those peculiar phrases, understand them deeply, and use them in your content.

When users see content written in “their words,” they’ll tune into it. Instead of the wall of Internet noise, it becomes something interesting that’s worth checking out.

Which has been known to lead to the next point …

7. Understand them

The problem: It’s easier than ever to feel disconnected, isolated, and just plain lonely.

And having hundreds or even thousands of “friends” on social media often only makes it worse.

Too many folks are papering over their unhappiness with bright, happy social media posts — creating an “Instagram-ready” life to try to hide their pain and insecurity.

The solution: Understand them.

Show your audience that you get all of these painful and difficult feelings. That you empathize and understand … and that you’ll be able to help.

Talk about your own tough spots. Let a few cracks show. (They’re how the light gets in.)

Show that you’ve been there.

An online art class I’m in has been doing an “inner critic” exercise this week. It’s funny (and sad) how similar everyone’s critic sounds.

Why are you wasting your time with this?

You can’t really think you’ll ever be any good.

You clearly don’t have any talent, so why would you show other people how bad you are?

Isn’t there something more important you could be doing?

You’re just going to humiliate yourself.

Even if you have no interest in drawing or painting … I bet one or two of those sound familiar.

Whether your topic is fitness, finance, or flamenco, those nasty, hypercritical inner voices tend to say the same things.

If you’ve made some difficult journeys in your topic, don’t just show people the shiny highlights. Let them know about the tough spots as well.

It’s a great gift to know that someone understands our crappy day, or the reasons we can’t sleep at night.

And if you have a product or service that can ease the pain, that’s a true blessing.

These are not the only options

A case could be made (I may have made it once or twice) that most of the work I do on Copyblogger and this blog is about how to craft content that’s more rewarding.

More interesting, more useful, more relevant …

Something I love about writing is that you can always get better. You can always learn to craft a shapelier sentence or a more pleasing paragraph.

How about you — anything you’ve found makes your content more innately rewarding? Let us know about it in the comments.

I’ll be happy to send you the upcoming posts in this series — just drop your name and email in the boxes below. I’ll also send you a quick “Freedom course” I’ve been working on, about mindset and business and doing the things that need to be done.